Confession
by Olivia26
Summary: To be perfectly honest, I was afraid of what you might do if I didn’t talk to you." Elliot finally spills his guts...


TITLE: Confession

AUTHOR: Liv

RATING: PG

FEEDBACK: Please?

CLASSIFICATION: Olivia/Elliot friendship UST

SPOILERS: Uh...none really. Just Elliot's general pissy-ness in S6.

DISTRUBUTION STATEMENT: If anyone is so inclined to post this anywhere, let me know about it first...I promise you'll get the green light...and I'll be flattered

AUTHOR'S NOTES: For this fic to work, you have to pretend that "Doubt" never happened. It was written before the ep aired, but not ready to be posted in time.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters on SVU, I'm only playing with them for the time being and will return them in one piece...I promise.

Thanks to Broem for beta-ing!!

"I'm done, Elliot! I'm not doing this anymore!" Olivia Benson screamed at her partner's back.

Elliot stopped in his tracks and whirled around on his heel. "What do you mean 'you're not doing this anymore?!'"

"This, Elliot! I'm not going to follow after you when you storm out of the squad room. It's a complete waste of time anyway—all I ever get from you is a string of bullshit, 'I'm fines'."

Elliot's shoulders fell in defeat. He folded his arms across his chest and glanced around the hallway. He noticed a number of people watching the exchange between him and Olivia. Impulsively, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the stairway on his left.

"Where the hell are we going, Stabler?" Olivia demanded.

"Roof. Too many witnesses here," he explained.

They quickly climbed the three flights of stairs to the rooftop and stepped out into the chilly New York air. Olivia crossed her arms under her breasts and let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"Seriously, Elliot, what in the hell is going on with you? We can't keep going the same way we have been lately. I need you with me out there," she explained. "Please? Let me help you."

Elliot sat down on the roof's ledge and clasped his hands in his lap. I wish it were that simple, Liv," he began. "I really wish you could help me with this one, but this time, I don't think that's a possibility." He looked up at her with piercing blue eyes filled with anguish.

She sighed and sat down next to him, shoulder to shoulder, for the sake of warmth and the physical contact she sensed he needed. "All right, even if I can't do anything to help you with whatever it is, at least tell me about it. I can just be here to talk to, you know, like we've always done before," she said with a reassuring smile.

He fidgeted for a moment with his watch, and then began to speak. "It's Kathy," he started. "She served me with divorce papers about a month ago."

"Oh, El, I'm so sorry. You've kept this bottled up for that long? No wonder things have been tense around here."

"It's been going on longer than you think, Liv. She left me a month before that. Just took the kids and left. There was a note on the kitchen table that said something like, 'Elliot, I can't go on like this anymore. I'm taking the kids to my mother's. You'll get the papers in a few weeks'."

"Have you seen the kids since?" Olivia asked.

"Only Maureen. I've talked to the other three on the phone a couple of times, but that's it," he explained.

"I'm sure it's been tough for all of you lately."

"You have no idea. Kathy and I have been on the outs for a while now, but for her to just go and take my kids without even saying a word to me? That was really a low blow. She knows how much I want to be there for them. She knows that and she still did it anyway."

Olivia wrapped her arm around her partner's shoulders and gave him a gentle squeeze. "I'm sure you two will get it all worked out in a way that everyone can live with; sooner or later."

"That's just it, Liv. She wants full custody with no visitations. She wants them all to herself. A judge would be crazy to give me custody, but I still need to see them, even if it is every other weekend and holiday."

"I know, El. We'll find a way to make it work," she soothed. "I'm sure that Casey knows someone that can help you out with the hearings, and we know plenty of people who will back up your qualifications as a parent. We'll all testify on your behalf if need be. We'll make this work."

Elliot turned his head toward his partner. "Thanks for being here for me."

"You don't have to thank me, Elliot. That's why they call us 'partners'; we solve problems together. But I am going to ask that you make me one promise."

With a laugh, he asked, "Oh really? And what is that?"

"I need you to promise me that you'll talk to me about what's going on next time, before it gets to the point where I'm going to beat it out of you. I deserve that from you."

He nodded. "I will. And you're right. You do deserve that much from me. Especially since you give me so much more than I deserve."

"Good. I'm pretty sure that Munch was looking for a way to get my gun away from me before I followed you out of the squad room, for fear of what I might do to you," she said.

He gave her a toothy smile in response. "To be perfectly honest, I was afraid of what you might do if I didn't talk to you."

She shook her head in disbelief, "Just because I can kick your ass, doesn't mean I want to. But seriously, if you need anything, anything, you know where to turn. Day or night, it doesn't matter. If you need me to park myself in the courtroom with your for moral support, I'll do it and you know it. All you have to do is ask. No more keeping it inside and beating the crap out of every suspect we interrogate. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Now that my ass is frozen solid, can we please go back inside and get to work? These cases aren't going to solve themselves, you know," she said as she stood up and stretched.

Elliot took her outstretched hand and stood up. "Yeah, let's do it, partner."


End file.
